Olivia Pratt-Korbel memorial burned to the ground as community 'heartbroken'

Olivia Pratt-Korbel's family have been left devastated after a group of children playing with fire accidentally burned down a memorial to the schoolgirl.

died aged nine on August 22, 2022 at the hands of thug Thomas Cashman after he shot through the door of her family's home in Dovecot, Liverpool. Cashman had intended to kill 35-year-old Joseph Nee, who had run into the property, in a gangland assassination, but a shot fired from his gun passed through Cheryl Korbel's hand and into her daughter. Olivia died later the same day at children's , and Cheryl, alongside the youngster's loved ones, set up a memorial area in the wake of her death.

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The memorial was placed close by Olivia's Dovecot home, and a tree was planted by her mother inside when it opened in 2023. After standing for nearly two years, the memorial was partially destroyed by children "playing with fire", leaving her family and the foundation that helped open the commemorative area heartbroken.

Representatives of Olivia's Butterfly Foundation, the charity set up in her memory, said children had set alight equipment belonging to local civil engineering and highways infrastructure firm HA Civils. The firm had intended to use the materials to transform the land for local children, but Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service confirmed some were set on fire this week.

A large quantity of roadworks plastic barriers were set alight. The flames were extinguished at around 5.04pm, and a picture showing the melted aftermath was posted by the Butterfly Foundation to social media.

Representatives for the foundation said they were "extremely disappointed", and called on parents to better educate their children on the dangers of playing with fire. The statement read: "Not a post we thought we would ever find ourselves posting.

"Unfortunately this is the aftermath of CHILDREN, playing with fire on the Finch Lane land where Olivia’s memorial tree sits. This equipment belongs to HA Civils, a local company who, out the kindness of their own hearts, are actually helping us develop that land which will in turn benefit the local children and our community.

"We are extremely disappointed and it breaks our hearts to see a local firm lose out on so much financially and our land destroyed. This sets us back with our plans but somehow doesn’t put us off, we will come back from this and continue with our plans to create a better space for the area.

"We NEED to educate our children on the dangers of playing with fire whether done intentionally or not and most certainly on the consequences of doing so. This could have been SO much worse as so many other things/people could have been affected.

"Thank you to everyone who reached out to us informing us of this matter, to the local authorities and our community who share with us the highest level of disappointment."